GM wondering what to expect from LFG

I'm a moderately experienced GM with no players currently and I've been thinking about getting a roll20 game going for awhile now. I'm getting pretty close to taking the plunge and I had some general questions about how things tend to go when using roll20's LFG feature. 1) Scheduling. It looks like I have to set a time for my game before I make an LFG posting. Is it highly unusual to get players together before settling on a time? Should I take it that most groups aren't formed from scratch? Should I schedule far in advance and just adjust after talking to people? 2) Could I reasonably expect players to stick with a campaign week to week provided the game's any good, or do people tend to evaporate more often than not? Are one-shots/short games more common? 3) Will I have any luck with something that's not 5e? I've never played an Iron Kingdoms game and I'd really like to give it, among others, a whirl. 4) I'm not looking to play a mush with a map. Is skype the standard? Cameras or no? Discord? Or do most PUGs use Roll20 chat? 5) Is there anything I should watch out for, be careful not to do, etc? Any other info about how things tend to go with LFG around here would be appreciated as well. Thanks for your time.

I actually prefer setting a time when I am willing to run and letting players that can make that time apply... instead of trying to find players whose schedules all match for certain days.

1. Pick a time that suits you and stick with it. Knowing the time makes it easier for players to know if they can join or not. 2. There's more players than games available, so you should be able to keep a group over the long run. Initially you'll have a few drop out. Don't take it personally. Once you've got a core group that likes your setting, tone, game mechanics, and style it's pretty easy to keep the group together. 3. Pathfinder and D&D are the most popular games by far, but you can definitely get people to play other games. Be welcoming and willing to teach newcomers and you should have no problems filling an Iron Kingdoms game. You might get a few players who would rather be playing something else, so they'll ghost on you after they find a game that suits them better. Don't take it personally, just activate your LFP post again.  4. Roll20 built-in audio-video works fine. Lots of groups use Google Hangouts, Skype, or Discord. I've also seen appear.in used. Audio is much more important than video unless you plan to stream your games on Twitch. I personally use Discord and fall back to google hangouts when that fails. 5. Try to get everyone at the same level of tech-quality initially. Maybe host a test call session with players outside the game so you don't waste time on tech issues when you should be playing.

DeepFriedScience said: 1) Scheduling. It looks like I have to set a time for my game before I make an LFG posting. Is it highly unusual to get players together before settling on a time? Should I take it that most groups aren't formed from scratch? Should I schedule far in advance and just adjust after talking to people? This is perfectly normal to do. Just make sure to tell everyone you invite if you are adjusting the timeframe. DeepFriedScience said: 2) Could I reasonably expect players to stick with a campaign week to week provided the game's any good, or do people tend to evaporate more often than not? Are one-shots/short games more common? The unhappy reality... no you cannot expect people to stick around. After GM'ing on Roll20 for around 2 years, I have had to replace players constantly. I never had a consistent group for more than 3 session in a row. I am not trying to scare you off, but it is a reality of people over the internet. This isn't to say I didn't have Players that stuck around for a year or others for several months, but the group as a whole changed constantly. DeepFriedScience said: 3) Will I have any luck with something that's not 5e? I've never played an Iron Kingdoms game and I'd really like to give it, among others, a whirl. I GM for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, and consistently got Players  willing to play. Out of the 2 years I have only had to cancel play 4 or 5 times due to not enough Players. DeepFriedScience said: 4) I'm not looking to play a mush with a map. Is skype the standard? Cameras or no? Discord? Or do most PUGs use Roll20 chat? I hate maps and tend to use them only when required.  I tend to use Google Hangouts for video and voice, but I have run games just text. I prefer to talk and I use the video to gauge people's level of interest and to see how they react to situations. I see excitement I repeat what caused it. I see how they react to amazing situations and see if they are fiddling with their phones or getting up and ignoring other people's turns. Is it required? no, but it makes it feel like they are right there for me, and that is why I use it. DeepFriedScience said: 5) Is there anything I should watch out for, be careful not to do, etc? Any other info about how things tend to go with LFG around here would be appreciated as well. Thanks for your time. Watch out for how people react to the LFG post. If you post "the setting is in Boston" and the Player responds to the LFG post saying "Where is it located?" you know they won't pay attention to the GM so don't bother with them. It is a big red flag and anytime I ended up ignoring that red flag the Players were disruptive. Hopefully some of that info is useful to you.

I just gathered a group for  my first DM campaign through LFG. We haven't had our first session yet, so I definitely can't answer any long term questions, but as far as gathering people... Be thorough about what you want, what you expect, and what you foresee happening. I did a great deal of scouring the forums to figure out what is considered "necessary" information for most players, and it all boiled down to everything important .  Time, what day of the week, how long the campaign will run, how long each session should be, what type of campaign you want to run (version, style, 18+ or not, any 'bad' topics, etc) You have to remember that everyone is a total stranger and what means one thing to you can mean something entirely different to someone else, any house rules, etc. Spell out everything. I set my day of the week/time ahead, and said it could not be changed. There's just too many people who want to be players already to recruit a handful, only to find out none of them can agree on a set schedule and stick to it.  It seems like a lot of games have a problem with a ton of applicants applying and having to interview a bunch of folks before they find their core -- perhaps I'd of had that issue if I'd left my campaign open for much longer, but I filled up all my slots in 3 days, +1 extra. We'll see if they all show up on game night, but the people that applied to my campaign were 100% the type of players that I wanted -- older, attentive, role-play oriented, and a little twisted. ;D Because I laid out the ground rules on everything, I only had to deal with one nasty person who couldn't handle rejection well, instead of a flood of 30+ applicants all vying for 4 spots. So, I had 7 applicants, I took 5.  The interview was the best tip I've found on the forum as a new DM starting with LFG -- get on Discord or Skype, or whatever, set a time and a date, and talk to them. If they don't show up, boot 'em off your short list, if they're late, if they're not the type of player you want, or someone you can't see yourself getting along with long term (assuming you're playing a long campaign) mark them off. For me, talking to them made them players, not just random screen names, so it already began the relationship between a player and a DM -- potential friendships, etc. I could get a feel of how they would react to funny moments, bad moments, how they handle tension, etc.   So...I hope some of that helps. :) 

Hi DeepFriedScience, What a great question - it has inspired me to answer in detail! I don't have all the answers, but I have been GMing games online for over 10 years now (way before Roll20) and offline forever, and can definitely impart some hard-learned wisdom.  As you suspect, the vast majority of games with new players and new GMs seem to flame out quickly or have trouble even getting started.  If you are looking for long-term success, you want to build a strong foundation for your game.  Some of my advice might differ or conflict with the advice of others.  I'm not saying it's the only way or the best way, just that this is what has worked for me over the years.  These days I hardly ever run into the common issues that most GMs complain about - I went through those growing pains years ago. Make most of the decisions upfront. As a GM, you are a valuable commodity as I'm sure you are aware.  The ratio of GMs to players has always been an issue, and that ratio is especially rough on Roll20.  Whatever you decide to do, you will have to beat players off with a stick once you announce it.  It's important to make all of the major decisions before you start looking for players, based on what you really want and what works best for you - the rules system, time, day, frequency, style of game, software used, etc.  Don't compromise just because you are excited to get a game going, you are probably hurting your chances in the long run.  Even if you are flexible on some of these areas, you are still better off making those decisions ahead of time to build a strong foundation.  You can always tweak them down the road if necessary.  A happy and excited GM makes for happy and excited players, and a greater chance at a successful campaign! Change your perspective. The actual game and it's details aren't that important.  Most likely, you don't really want to play a RPG with a bunch of strangers - you want to make new friends online that are good people, fun to hang out with, enjoy the same kinds of games you do and can meet on a reliable basis.  Shift your focus away from the game you are running and towards finding people that you click with.   With that in mind, I highly recommend starting off by running one-shots in the exact same time slot you have planned for your campaign.  For starters, you get to start playing and making friends immediately!  Scratching that RPG itch right away can stop you from making poor long-term decisions because you "just want to play" as soon as possible.  Don't make any long-term commitments to a game - use the opportunity to have fun, become comfortable with Roll20 and online GMing, and most importantly, to build up a circle of friends that you want to game with.  Personally, I don't put much stock into interviewing or online applications - just like real life, someone might interview well but be a terrible player (or at least, not what you are looking for), or vice versa - their application might be shaky, but they are a blast to play with.  You really won't know if they are a good fit until you actually play with them.   One-shots are also a great way to test out various options you are unsure about - which game system you really want to play, which voice software you want to use, etc.  Try to use the same rules in your one-shots that you want in your campaign.  If you think bards are annoying or tieflings shouldn't be a PC race, your one-shots are the place to set those expectations or test them out.   The bottom line here is that if you build a good group of people that get along, have similar interests and can meet on a regular basis - the actual gaming bits will be the easiest part. Scheduling and reliability are by far the most important things. You might have the greatest players in the world, but if they can't play at the same time as you or only show up for one-third of the sessions, it won't matter.  The schedule always comes first.  Do some soul searching on what time slot really works best for you, what kind of frequency is the most sustainable - and then stick to it.  Nothing can kill a campaign faster than poor attendance or a changing schedule. Start off with strict rules on attendance, make sure the players know them and then enforce them. Keep a waiting list of other players ready to join your campaign and remind current players of the waiting list.  You can do all this without being a jerk about it, just let the players know how important it is to the success of the game.  Sure, real life happens and you can be more flexible with attendance once you know the players are reliable, but when they are still an unknown quantity you will have more success if you are strict up front.  My personal preference is to make certain they can definitely play in the first few sessions (to get the game off to a strong start) and have a player or two on standby to replace them immediately in case they don't.  No-call no-shows are replaced immediately, no mercy.  If this sounds a bit harsh, here's the important thing - reliable players want to play in reliable groups, and will appreciate that you are strict about attendance.  It's the players that are unreliable who will have an issue with a strict attendance policy - best to scare them off before you even get started.  After you have a built a reliable group that is off to a strong start, you can start being more flexible when real life interferes.   On a related note, figure out what your ideal number of players is and then add one to it for your final roster of current players.  In a longer campaign, odds are someone is not going to be able to make it most weeks because of real life interference.  Build on a string of victories. Don't start off with grand ideas of long running campaigns.  Those almost always fizzle or flame out. Start small and build on your successes.  Get some one-shots in as practice and for the reasons stated above.  Invite back a few of your favorite players to the next one-shot and open it up to a few new players.  Repeat until you are comfortable with everything and have a good selection of players to choose from.  Start a group and run a multi-session adventure that may or may not turn into a longer campaign.  If that struggles, fix what's wrong and try again.  If it works, build it into a mini-campaign with a definitive end-point, say like 12 sessions or 2 months.  Nothing says you can't continue the same campaign after that, but aim for shorter, more realistic goals and achieve them first.  In my experience, the classic "I'm looking for a long-term campaign with reliable players" start is almost certainly going to fail, but a practical short-term approach that you can build on almost always excceeds expectations.  Build relationships, new and old. Continuously build on the relationships you create.  Keep in touch with your circle of players, even if you aren't playing with them currently.  Add them to Google circles.  Become friends on Steam and play video games with them.  Send them a message every once in a while to see how they are doing and what they are playing.  Play in random one-shots with them.  For some people that's easy and comes naturally, but for many it needs to be a more deliberate practice.  Build up that stable of friends and players over time and it will be your most valuable asset when it comes to gaming with success.   Finally, don't forget to add new players to your circle as often as you are comfortable with it - one of the greatest joys as a GM is introducing new people to roleplaying games!  If the GM has their act together, it's easier to cultivate good new players.  They are going to have a better experience and are more likely to become a permanent member of the hobby.  They will also become better players faster, with good habits and values that are important to GMs!  :)  I imagine there are a lot of new players who get excited about learning roleplaying games and Roll20, but get turned off from a poor initial experience and wander away back to the land of video games.     Anyway, that's my advice for GMs looking to play online.  Have fun at each step along the way.  Be in a rush to play, but don't be in a rush to start a long-term campaign.  Take what ideas work for you from this, file away the rest.   Let me know if you have further questions or I can help with more specific information.   Good luck and enjoy the process, I'm excited for you and the players you will find!

There have been some great suggestions in this thread. DeepFriedScience, feel free to also check out the  Looking For Group Wiki to learn more about the mechanics of our LFG tool. That, combined with the advice you've received here, should give you a good head start!

1.  The thing you have to keep in mind on Roll20 is that it's a global community.  That means you can get interest from people across all different time zones.  Your 4pm might be some one else's 9pm.  If you don't have an exact time planned out, you should, at the very least, have a range of acceptable start times.  That way, you can find a time that works for everyone. 2. Oh boy.  This really depends on what kind of group you want to run, but if you want to keep your sanity intact, expect everyone to be a total flake.  It's normal for campaigns to fizzle out after a couple of games, but every now and then you'll get lucky and get people who are willing to stick around for the long run.  It's just trial and error. 3. From what I've seen, 5e, Pathfinder, and to a lesser extent 3.5e, are REALLY popular.  I've personally GM'd a few different games, none of them D&D or Pathfinder, and finding players has been... difficult for a couple of them (A Song of Ice and Fire RPG, GURPS, Numenera).  Not just reliable players, either--there have been times where a week has gone by, and I've only had six or seven people express interest in joining the game. 4. I always use voice chat.  From what I understand, voice and video is somewhat uncommon, but voice chat is very common. 5. Don't give up!  Roll20 can be a pain, but when you find a group that really works, it's worth it.

A minor suggestion: consider running a game in which the continued presence of the same players is unnecessary. For instance, if running Dungeons & Dragons, have each session be a self-contained dungeon expedition. Whoever shows up one night plays that night. Whoever shows up another night plays another night. Your party composition will constantly be changing, and that will be built into the game. (But players who do show up session after session will be rewarded with higher-level characters.)

5. Don't give up! Roll20 can be a pain, but when you find a group that really works, it's worth it. In the two and a half years I've been on Roll20 I've had close to 60 (59) people come and go out of the variety of games I've run. Some folks never show up, some come and go inside of an hour, some just stick around to cause trouble it seems.... Others have stuck around for the entire two and a half years. I currently run 5 weekly games with 19 different players. And you will find it to be a study in contrasts. One game I had four players and lost three after the first session. Their replacements are now on their fifth session and going strong. Another game I picked up a group of six and they are talking about adding another person.  Lots of war stories but in the end: Don't give up. You can find a group of reliable players who will stick with your game for years. 

Erich S. said: 5. Don't give up! Roll20 can be a pain, but when you find a group that really works, it's worth it. In the two and a half years I've been on Roll20 I've had close to 60 (59) people come and go out of the variety of games I've run. Some folks never show up, some come and go inside of an hour, some just stick around to cause trouble it seems.... Others have stuck around for the entire two and a half years. I currently run 5 weekly games with 19 different players. And you will find it to be a study in contrasts. One game I had four players and lost three after the first session. Their replacements are now on their fifth session and going strong. Another game I picked up a group of six and they are talking about adding another person.  Lots of war stories but in the end: Don't give up. You can find a group of reliable players who will stick with your game for years.  The words right out of my mouth

Trial and error. Put up a listing, have a session zero with every new player. Treasure good players and liberally use the "kick player" button and wait for a cohesive group to form. I have a very reliable group of 8 players for my Saturday game. It took a year, but we have now been stable for a bit over a year. This is the internet, 20% of what and who is on the internet don't really exist. You will deal with trolls who just want to ruin your game, you will have people who can't figure out what day it is, get over it. Like any entertainment, provide the best game you can and talk to your players frequently to determine what works and what doesn't. In the beginning you just want to "put asses in seats", as you hone your craft your good players will bring their friends and before you know it there will be no need for the LFG listing

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to respond. You've confirmed some of my worries, and affirmed alot of what I'm looking for out of a prospective game. All in all I feel like I got really great advice out of this, and you've all saved me alot of headaches and trouble. And it's just nice to feel like I'm not going in blind. I've adjusted a campaign concept, and I'm really excited about how it's coming together. I'm shooting for a July 3rd start date to give myself a few weeks to make some tokens and maps, build some NPCs and scenarios, and I'm going to get a LFG posting up ASAP. Thanks again.

David T. said: A minor suggestion: consider running a game in which the continued presence of the same players is unnecessary. For instance, if running Dungeons & Dragons, have each session be a self-contained dungeon expedition. Whoever shows up one night plays that night. Whoever shows up another night plays another night. Your party composition will constantly be changing, and that will be built into the game. (But players who do show up session after session will be rewarded with higher-level characters.) Adventurers League is great for this; my only complaint about it is that it starts like the perfect solution to PUGs with 1-2 hours full fledged adventures, but then it turns into 4-6 hour ones and it's a little unwieldy, specially with PUGs.

Also, in addition to all the other advice, don't discount having your 'real life' friends join you on Roll20.  The group I'm running for now, started as an in-person group and I joined when they were first starting with Virtual Table-top (in another VT).  As one game got interrupted (due to the GM's wife having a baby) I took over and we moved to Roll20.  That was a year and a half ago and we've been playing since.  Getting a core group with your 'live' friends and adding compatible people is much easier than trying to herd a bunch of people you've just met (for most people). Another thing to think about is that 'one-shots' are hard to set up for a short session (less than 6 hours).  And the more people you have, the longer it will take to do anything.  Our 4 hour sessions usually include 1 combat session and maybe a role-play encounter ("I have a quest for you...")  Starting and ending an adventure in one session can be difficult for new GM's and players. All that being said, make sure that you and your players are having fun.  That is the most important part of the whole thing. Good luck, and keep an eye out for me in the LFG threads.  I'm trying to find a group to join on my non-GM nights. ;-)  

Some of my comments are a little similar to others, but I have enough of a different perspective that I figured I'd go ahead and respond to everything. :) 1) Scheduling. I agree with all the others who have said that players tend to look for and apply to games that are in scheduled times they already can work with.  If for some reason you have a TON of availability and really don't want to exclude any people potentially interested in your game, since it's (possibly) a less popular game, then you can set your best time and state in the description that the time is somewhat flexible.  I have seen that before, and it can be encouraging for players with very limited availability who like more rare games.  But more on that bit in #3. 2) Player reliability/longevity, and long-term vs. one-shots. Player reliability and longevity are often a function of the players' personalities/preferences/lives/etc themselves, but it also bears mentioning that as the GM you do have the power to influence this.  You can't change what people are fundamentally interested in (well, not usually at least), but you can work both with them and for them to make the game something they WANT to come to every week.  This responsibility is not completely on you of course, and like others have said, if they DON'T show up after you've made efforts to be engaging and accommodating, definitely don't take it personally.  Everyone on Roll20 has SOME sort of other life-- older players often have families they must do things for, younger players often have families having them do things, etc.  As awesome as any game is, most people will have some reason they will miss at least part of the time. I also feel like these factors are influenced by the players being able to perceive that they are working towards some interesting but attainable goal (more than just reaching level whatever), whether individually or as a group.  And it helps if they get along TOGETHER.  They can all respect, like, or even love you but not necessarily be very fond of each other.  I've seen that happen. And in a game where people just kind of mysteriously dropped like flies til it fell apart.  You're not the friendship police, and you can't tell people to kiss and make up, but you can set forth some sort of standards of acceptable behaviour and make those clear to the players.  As far as long-term vs. one-shots, I also agree with whoever said you could do one-shots til you feel ready to do a long-term game, and that putting it in the same time slot will help you meet different people who are interested in that game at that time.  If someone just doesn't get along well in the game or with you or other players, a one-shot is less awkward for dealing with that scenario, and then you'll know not to accept them when the time comes for the longer game. One-shots can also be really good for games that are lesser known.  People who are curious about it will like the chance to get their feet wet before jumping in, and people who are familiar with it will like the chance to try it with you as GM.  Which kind of leads to the next point. 3) Non-D&D/Pathfinder games. Ok, this is where I have a bit of different perspective.  It's true that most games listed on Roll20 are some sort of D&D or Pathfinder.  But that means that all the people who are looking for something that is NOT D&D or Pathfinder have a limited quantity of other choices.  That can make your game listing sound MORE intriguing, as opposed to less.  I for one have played enough D&D and Pathfinder and have realized from trying other games that there are games that have more of what I'm looking for in a game.  There are more players like this on Roll20 than you would think.  My biggest advice in that regard would be to make sure your game listing clearly states WHAT game you are playing and a brief synopsis of what that actually means.  Being vague will help no one.  I see plenty of game ads for indie games where what game is being played is not really clearly outlined, and I often see people in the application threads for those games excitedly asking to join that "D&D" game. :P Now, I'm not familiar with the game you're looking to run (Iron Kingdoms?), so I can't provide any insights about individual differences and that's probably a good thing, because it's not the place for a game flavour discussion anyway. :)  But I will say that the way you handle some of these factors does actually vary depending on what game you are playing.  Some games naturally attract players that are more interested in cooperation and collaboration.  Some games will encourage players to cooperate and collaborate by nature of the plot and mechanics-- in my favourite game for example, individuals can't really run off and do foolhardy or selfish things because they will get hurt far more easily that way.  Whatever type of game your game is, I would include that in the game listing as well.  The more people know what to expect, the more the applicants will actually be people who know what they are getting into and want to be getting into it.  That will help with the "too many applicants" problem that someone mentioned, but it will also help with the "not enough applicants" problem that someone else mentioned.  People hesitate to apply if they are unsure about things. 4) Audio. There are a few games out there that are text only, but every single game I've ever played, and most of the ones I've applied for or read about, are voice but not video.  Some players have mysterious difficulties with the in-game audio for Roll20.  I was on internet with terrible bandwidth for years and never had trouble with it, but it can happen, so there are games using just about every other VoIP program.  It's pretty much a standard that the GM can select but should be a little flexible in the event that one does not work for one or more players.  You can tell people in the game listing if you want, but it's not completely crucial, as long as you give people a little warning before game day in case they need to download something new to them.  It feels a little assumed that most everyone has Skype, but Discord is turning into a thing as well.  Most groups I've been in have attempted to use Roll20 first and then go to something else if someone has an issue.  If you have a little disposable income and get to where you game a lot, you can't beat other programs like Mumble or Teamspeak that you have to pay for but don't seem to use too much of resources and give a lovely Push-to-Talk option.  5) Is there anything I should watch out for, be careful not to do, etc? I think the fact that you've given this forethought and have gone to others to ask questions shows that you have a great attitude and level of care involved. :)  I wish you luck in finding some great players and having a fantastic time!  Welcome to Roll20!